Tommy Hilfiger Imparts Fashion Industry Advice at HBS: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Nov 05, 2014

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Introduction
Learning from failure was Tommy Hilfiger’s ‘MBA’
Innovation and adaptation central to success says Fred Gehring

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Image: Getty Images for Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger told tale of his iconic brand and lengthy career in the fashion industry in front of an audience of 100 at Harvard Business School (HBS) on Monday.

Questions from HBS students were put forward to Hilfiger in a one-hour discussion which encompassed the history of Tommy Hilfiger, the changing challenges of the fashion industry and lessons learned along the way.

Those in attendance enjoyed hearing how a household name had also had to overcome adversity and have the guts to change strategic direction when something’s not working.

“Hearing how [Hilfiger] grew the brand and how he changed his strategy when he needed to was really great,” one first-year MBA student at Harvard Business School, Kaye Kirschner, told The Harvard Crimson.

Learning from failure was Tommy Hilfiger’s ‘MBA’

One point of reflection concerned Tommy Hilfiger’s first foray into the fashion industry with People's Place. Despite rapid expansion the venture spiraled into bankruptcy in the mid-1970s because of Tommy Hilfiger’s self-confessed inexperience – but the failure served the designer well: “That was my MBA,” Hilfiger playfully reasoned at HBS’s Spangler auditorium.

After returning stronger with his self-titled brand, the challenges kept on coming – Hilfiger also spoke of how having too many stakeholders who harped on about the bottom line, yet knew nothing of the fashion industry, ended up damaging the brand’s reputation in their quest to push profits.

The designer credited Fred Gehring, former CEO and current executive chairman of Tommy Hilfiger, with being integral in turning round the company’s fortunes.

Innovation and adaptation central to success says Fred Gehring

“We’ve seen opportunity in every challenge, learned to adapt to an ever-changing business structure, embraced innovation, and remained focused on building a consistent global premium brand image worldwide,” Fred Gehring said in a press release.

By way of advice to the next generation of Harvard Business School leaders, in or outside of the fashion industry, Fred Gehring also cautioned that you can’t plan for everything in a professional life and suggested that you shouldn’t even try to:

“This whole desire for everybody to have a really mapped-out career lined up is overrated,” he said.

How to get into fashion management with an MBA

The event was hosted by one of Harvard Business School’s student-run organizations, the Retail and Luxury Goods Club, and presided over by Raffaella Sadun, a professor at HBS. Sadun published a case study earlier this year which aims to put students in the place of Tommy Hilfiger at the time of its acquisition by Apax Partners in 2006. The challenge is for them to dispel company stagnation and plan a strategic turnaround for the first 100 days after the acquisition.

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).